


Blight of my Life

by ASofterSideofSlashers



Category: Friday the 13th Series (Movies)
Genre: Captivity, Gen, Human Experimentation, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-07 19:12:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17966372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ASofterSideofSlashers/pseuds/ASofterSideofSlashers
Summary: The key to eternal life is well documented. Most consider it hyperbole or myth--but few know the truth. Of those who know, one of them is Corinne Summers, an unwilling victim of this pursuit. Stolen as a teenager by those who wish to recreate a legend, Corinne was told she was destined to aid in the discovery of supernatural immortality. Now an adult, she has to escape from imprisonment with her two children before they all become the next victims of Crystal Lake.





	Blight of my Life

**Author's Note:**

> i haven't written a fanfic in like 10 years please be nice. And if there's a tag warning that you think should be applied, please let me know!

  
  
  


 

 

     The key to eternal life is well documented online. From religious texts to the urban legends that spread through chain messages in chatrooms. Most considered it rumor or nonsense, and that’s how they liked it. The Facility kept track of all of this. Every blurry photo, every mysterious video that was uploaded. All “debunked”, as far as the public was concerned. They operated in the shadow of shadows, unbeknownst to even those of the highest government clearance. They didn’t exist. They weren’t supposed to. But they did, and they were monitoring everything. This room was monitoring the subjects of Project Blight; Location: Crystal Lake.

     Or, at least it was trying to. Most of the monitors were dark or fuzzy. A carefully manicured hand pushed a button as its owner leaned closer to the microphone.

     “Riker, the cameras are still blocked. All we can see is the front door. She knows they’re there.”

     “She’s just messy is all. I’ll move ‘em out of the way when I get in.”

     “Don’t bother, we’ll send a tech in to fix things, the audio is still buggy anyway. Sounds like everything’s underwater. Just find a date for her to get out of the house for a while.”

     “A date, you say?”

     “ _ Carter _ .”

     “ _ Fine _ . Roger. Whatever. I’m knocking now.”

     That, they could see. The camera trained on tall, pale, and handsome; another focused, watching from the inside as the door was answered. 

Corinne Summers. 24. Facility subject for 11 years. Mission progress: 97%

\-------

     Play stopped as soon as they heard the knock at the door. No speaking, no fun-having. Had to look miserable, just the way they wanted it. Her little boy, whose deformities were so carefully chosen, quickly put away his crayons and coloring book under the couch. He ran off to his room before his mom could raise a finger to her lips to be quiet. He never liked it when they came to their house. It was such an  _ invasion _ .

     “Coming--I’m  _ coming _ ! Hold your damn horses.” She always had a way with words, and managed a  _ mostly  _ convincing fake smile before she opened the door. Holiday bells that were never removed jangled and banged as she greeted the bastard on the other side.

     “We can always have that arranged. Morning,  _ ‘Pam’ _ .”

     “Don’t call me that.” 

     “Sorry, Corey, you know I’m just playing.”

     “It’s Corinne.”

     Being that Corinne never had to suffer through working in retail, the aforementioned fake smile usually went away pretty quickly. 

     “...Right. Sorry. You mind if I--” 

     Corinne blocked a nicely polished dress shoe from stepping across the threshold. 

     “I do mind. Jason is sleeping.”

     “Still? It’s almost noon.”

     “He needs naps. Now,  _ Riker _ , was there something I could  _ help  _ you with?” She tried to disguise the annoyance in her voice by leading the conversation back to his purpose there. He was one of the few agents that would ever make appearances at the compound. One of the few she could try to manipulate. But by God she always felt like she needed a shower afterwards. 

     Leonard Riker was one of those men who hadn’t really done anything wrong (...yet), but there was still something in your gut that told you not to be alone with them. There were times she almost felt guilty for treating him so cold, he really was charming. But so was Ted Bundy. And then she remembered that he was at least ten years her senior and was there since Day One, and how many times he could have helped her escape if he really meant it, and the guilt goes away. She was sure that name was an alias, anyway. A dumb one at that.

     “Corinne, you know you can call me Leon if you want.”

     “I know. So, the  _ groceries _ .”

     “The what?”

     “The reason you’re here.” Corinne took out a folded piece of paper from her pocket and held it out to him.

     “Of course. Gotta eat...a  _ bolt cutter _ ? Corinne, for the  _ umpteenth  _ time, I can’t--”

     “It’s for an art project. There’s wire on there too.”

     “And a boat too, I bet. Look, I don’t think I need to remind you that the fence is  _ electric _ , right?”

     “Nope. But go ahead and add a boat to that list if y’like. I don’t know how to use one but I bet I could figure it out.”

     “Yeah, I’ll run it through to my supervisor.” He folded the paper and slid it into the breast pocket of his blazer. Gotta look sharp when you’re visiting your prisoners.

     “What time will you be back?”

     Riker hummed, checking his watch, pretending to think real hard about it before propping an arm up on the door frame and leaning in a bit closer. Corinne stood her ground, unimpressed and growing more impatient. 

     “You know, I think I might actually be able to arrange for you to come with me. It’d be nice to be able to choose your own groceries and supplies for once, don’t you think? It could only just be the two of us, of course. I’d hate to subject Jason to gawkers.” 

     His voice was low, as if he was planning something in secret. As if she didn’t know everyone who visited wore a wire. Nevertheless, it was a tempting offer. Corinne glanced back into the house, her gaze landing on the calendar for a moment. There were two dates circled. Jace’s birthday, which was last week, and an upcoming date. Friday the 13th.

     “No, thank you.” She turned back. “Maybe another time. Jason’s not feeling well, I don’t wanna leave him alone.” He didn’t like that answer, but accepted it and removed his arm from the door frame anyway.

     “When he’s feeling better, then. I’ll be back later tonight.”

     “What  _ time _ ?”

     “It’s a surprise!” And there it was. His stupid, cocky grin. Corinne bit her tongue and smiled, doing her best to keep her composure.

     “See you then!”

     It took every last ounce of control to keep herself from slamming the door in his face, but she managed to close it, slowly. And lock it. She waited and listened until she heard the car drive away for her to pull herself away from the door and back to the safety of her house--the parts where the camera’s gaze couldn’t reach.

     The camera was mounted on the ceiling, tucked away in a high corner, but only able to see the front room. Every time she turned away from the door it was a challenge not to acknowledge it. It was best if they didn’t know that she knew it was there, she figured. The front room border was marked in such a way, only its inhabitants could see it. Crayton drawings here, a scratch made by a chair there; the edge of a rug marked another part of it. Staying away from those indicators meant safety. It meant they couldn’t be seen. It meant Jace was free to be himself and that Diana could come inside, and for a little bit maybe Corinne could forget that they were all lab rats in a cage for a while.

     It took her a moment to remember what she was doing before the interruption. Right--packing. Food. Picnic. Jace popped his head from around the corner to see if the coast was clear, signing  _ O-K-?  _ to his mom to see if he could come out again. 

     “He’s gone, come on out. Oh--get the shoes from your room you wanted to give your sister before you forget.”

     “Right!!” 

     Corinne lifted a basket from its hiding spot behind the counter as the boy trotted back to his room. It had enough for the three of them, plus crayons, paper, and an action figure she dug up from the beach the other day, cleaned and sanitized. 

     “I’m ready~!” Jace leapt from the hall, the aforementioned shoes on his hands.

     “Alright, let’s-a go!”

     Another set of Christmas bells were tired on the door handle, making a ruckus as the two locked up the house. A warning alarm disguised as sentimental nonsense. She’d acquired a few sets over the years. Most were booby-trapped around the house, to alert her if anyone was coming in. One was thrown on the gate with a  _ “Happy fucking holidays.” _ , so she had a warning whenever they were coming through. The electricity made it too dangerous to remove, so it stayed. The loud, terrible bells she hated as a child finally served some purpose in these trying times. 

\-------

     It was a cool day for June. Dew saturated the grass and a light mist enveloped Crystal Lake. Corinne was never a morning person, but when your children are, you don’t have much of a choice but to adapt. The three of them--or two of them, as far as the facility knew--were the only inhabitants of the lake. But on the days that weren’t filled with loneliness and despair, it was actually rather nice. She wasn’t much of a people person, anyway.

     Jace skipped alongside his mom in the grass, stopping every now and then pick a dandelion. By the time they reached the beach he had nearly a full bouquet of puffballs. His mom chose a dry spot to lay out a blanket for them to sit on as he wandered a little towards the woods to pick more puffs. He was lost in his own little world when she asked for help setting up, but the rustle in the bushes a little further in caught his attention. Crystal Lake had birds, and it had fish. Deer seemed to only live on the other side of the fence. The only predators at the lake were the ones who came to ‘check in’. A little bit of excitement sparked in the boy’s chest at the thought that it could be a bunny or a squirrel, but cautious nature told him it was probably a sister. The boy stepped back, turning to go back to his mom, when all of a sudden a shadow launched at him from a tree.

     “ **_BLEAUGH!!_ ** ”

     “ **_MOM!!!_ ** ”

     Corinne sighed. “Diana, how many times have I told you not to scare your brother?”

     “But it’s fun!”

     “ _Augh_ , look what you did to my flowers!” 

     Sure enough, she had startled the puffs right off of their stems, with only a few still intact, and the rest of them covered her brother. 

     “Guess that means you’re the flower now.” Diana made an attempt to help him brush the puff seeds from his shirt. “Yeah, I guess. Make a wish, or twenty.”

     “I wish you two would get over here to eat!” And sure enough, Corinne got her wish, as the two ran over in a heartbeat. She’d sigh again, doing her own part to try to brush the rest of the seeds from Jace’s shirt. 

     “You really should quit with the scaring thing, Diana.”

     “Harley.”  She’d recently decided she liked her middle name a lot more, and it was still something the other two were getting used to.

     “Right, sorry. But you see what happens? And Jace was so excited to give you something.” 

     This gave Harley a pause. “...What sort of something?”

     “Well now I’m not so sure you deserve it if you want to keep being naughty. What do you think, J?”

     Jace shrugged, hopping onto his knees so he could go through the picnic basket to retrieve the shoes. “I think she should still have them anyway. It’s not a big deal.”

     Corinne was going to give them to her anyway, of course, but it was nice to hear it from him. Harley craned her neck to look in the basket as Jace took out the pair and held them out to her. 

     “ _ Are those Ninja Turtles!?? _ ”

     Sometimes they had to lie to get the supplies they needed for her. Jace’s feet hadn’t outgrown his shoes yet, but Riker didn’t know that. Harley wasn’t supposed to be there. She wasn’t supposed to be alive. Diana Harley Summers was her full name, but sometimes she liked to be called  _ Voorhees  _ because she liked the sound of that. She didn’t have a birth certificate. Neither of them did. As far as anyone was concerned, they didn’t exist--Harley especially. She was Corinne’s firstborn, but the Facility wanted a  _ boy _ . If it weren’t for that nurse having a conscience, she never would’ve survived. Keeping her hidden all of these years, it felt like they were constantly walking on eggshells. Or landmines.

     But mornings like these made everything worth it. Harley had deformities like her brother, but different. They both resembled  _ him  _ so much more than they resembled her, but it was usually in their mannerisms and expressions where Corinne could look at them and go, ‘ _ Yep, that’s mine. _ ’ Jace would wrinkle his nose and Harley would stick her tongue out when she was thinking. They were so full of energy and imagination whenever they’d talk to each other. Always forgiving. She wondered if that was from her or not too. She never remembered being so happy at that age. 

     Breakfast was easy to clean up and pack away. The kids offered to help, but she would rather watch them play. Harley seemed to love her new toy and those new shoes. Just as Corinne was folding up the blanket to put it away, the two rushed over and stood beside her.

     “You two look like you have something to say.”

     “We do.” Harley said matter-of-factly. She nudged her brother. “You first.”

     “O-okay!” Jace stepped forward and cleared his throat, hands behind his back and shoulders squared like some sort of diplomat. “Mother.  _ Mom _ , if I may.” Corinne snorted. “You may.”

     “Mom, I propose that we,” here he gestured to the three of them, “Go on an Adventure. An...expedition, if you will.”

     “An expedition?” Corinne quirked a brow. “What are we expeditioning?..Expediting?  No that’s not right… ”

     “Expedition is the wrong word,” Harley chimed in. “An expedition means you’re finding something.”

     “No it’s not! It doesn’t have to mean that. And--we are finding something!”

     “Yeah, okay. What are we finding?”

     “Alright, you two, calm down--”

     “Adventure! Freedom!  _ Conquest!! _ ”

     “I’m gonna have to stop you there.” Corinne tossed the blanket over her shoulder, signaling it was time to leave. “What exactly do you plan on conquesting?”

     “I--I don’t know, but...something! The fence, I guess.”

     Corinne sighed, putting a hand on Jace’s shoulder. “That’s a legit want, little man. But you know that’s a fierce dragon to slay. Maybe something closer…”

     “No, see, I have an idea!” Jace turned around, clearly having thought this out,

     “Like, okay, we know it’s electric, right? And what do we know that electric’s weak against?” 

     Corinne squinted, lips pursed to the side in thought. “.....Ground?” 

     “Rubber.” Harley interjected. 

     “Yes, exactly! Rubber! So, what I propose, is we get some rubber gloves, and, y’know probably rubber suits while we’re at it, and when everyone thinks we’re asleep--”

     “Hon.” 

     “Yes Mommy?”

     “It’s barbed. And, also I’m pretty sure that won’t work. And no, I’m not letting you _ test it _ .”

     “Have that geek Striker test it.”

     “Excellent idea, Harley, I’ll keep a note of that. In the meantime, keep thinkin’ about it, kiddo.” She gave Jace a pat on his back and began to lead them back towards the house.

     “Wait! I had something too!” Harley pulled on her mother’s arm the other way, towards the woods.

     “Don’t tell me it’s way out in the bunker…”

     “I won’t!” But it was.

     It wasn’t really a bunker, that’s just what they liked to call it. It was more like a cellar. Actually, they had discovered it to be a tunnel, but a tunnel to nowhere as they found early on there’d been some sort of collapse and it was impossible to dig through. Corinne had forbid the kids from trying, in fear of another collapse. It was a punch to the gut every time Harley had to be forced from her own home to be down there for fear of her being found. Granted, it had a bed, and toys, and things that suggested it’d been lived in before, but it was cold, and the walls were untrustworthy. Corinne tried to keep her adequately stocked with as many blankets and warm clothes as she could, but sometimes it wasn’t enough. 

     Harley would reassure her that everything was fine--especially during the summer she’d say it was the best thing next to the lake for a hot day. But that didn’t ease her mind a bit. During storms and the winter they’d have to play a game of hide-and-don’t-get-caught in the house whenever someone would come in and check in on them, but she was growing fast and getting too big to fit in old hiding places. Every day that passed felt like they were getting closer to a deadline and the noose was getting tighter.

     “I swear to God if you show me some nasty centipede or something, you’re grounded.”

     “It’s not! That’d be cool. But no. This is  _ even cooler _ .” Harley reassured her mom as they descended the ladder down to the room. It was more stable than it used to be, but still something Corinne felt the need to tell the two to be careful about. Which was followed by an “ _ I know _ .” and an “Actually I was thinking of just skipping the ladder all together and landing on my head this time.” Yeah, these were definitely her kids.

     “It’s right over here! I found it--and  _ don’t  _ yell at me--”

     “ _ Why _ would I yell at you,  _ Harley _ ?”

     The girl paused over a bundle she was about to unfold.

     “ _ ‘Caauuussee… _ .my bed’s not made?”

     “Where did you  _ find  _ it?”

     “........”

     “Harley.”

     “....In the rubble.”

     “ _ Harley _ !”

     “Hey, you said you wouldn’t yell!”

     “--No she didn’t.” Jace hopped down from the ladder in time to butt in.

     “I’m not yelling.” She shushed Jace with a hand wave and sat on Harley’s bed, which was indeed not made. “But you know how dangerous it is back there. I don’t care how cool it is, it’s not safe. What would’ve happened if the walls fell in on you?”

     “You don’t even know what it is and you’re already yelling at me!”

     “Harley,” Corinne patted the spot next to her, which the girl climbed up to, bundle in arms, a bit begrudgingly while her brother scrambled up behind her. 

     “I need you to listen to me. When I say something’s dangerous, I know what I’m talking about. Do I look like I’m full of shit?”

     “...No. But it could be our only way out.”

     “Or it could collapse on you and be your grave. It might not even lead to anywhere. Please,  _ please _ , Harley,  _ trust  _ me.” Corinne put her arm around the girl’s shoulders, hoping to leave it at that. 

     “Alright, now show me what you found, you little Hobbit.” As Hobbits were good at finding things. Harley bit her lip, thinking a moment before grinning and unwrapping the bundle, legs kicking out happily as her brother leaned in to see what it was.

     Corinne’s mouth dropped as her daughter unveiled the weapon from the bundle of blankets she had secured it in; measuring almost as long as her arm and held like it was a legendary sword, was a dirty, stained, rusted machete.

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
